Hi all, Just wondering if anyone else feels like the last couple APs (Return of the Runelords, Tyrant’s Grasp, and the first book of Age of Ashes and summary of the AP) have been underwhelming to you? The plots feel simplistic and immature to me, the NPCs have little motivation, there’s not great connection between books, and plenty of weird plot holes. I find that more recent books take more work to adapt into something that's sensible. Is anyone else finding this? (See my review for Secrets of Roderick's Cove for an example of more specific complaints I have).

I’ve noticed that AP reviews on Paizo are also generally lower since War for the Crown, so it’s not just me perhaps? (**Only counting reviews with at least 2 reviews - a sample size of "1" doesn't say much, especially since there are a few reviewers who consistently give 4-5 stars).

I keep hoping the next AP will be better but I keep getting disappointed. I feel like they’re writing for people who just want a list of things to kill. There’s little room for subtlety and plot development.

Is there a new developer for APs or something? Have they tightened their budget on APs to invest in other things? Thoughts? I'm hoping that it's just that they've had to invest so many people-hours in developing the new Edition over the last year.

I’m happy to be more precise about the problems with any of the last 13 books, if anyone wants to get into the nitty gritty...

I've been away from the conversation for about four months. Just wondering if anything has been said about the differences, rules-wise, between this and PF? I'm talking about number of skills / using skill ranks / feat trees / BAB progression... are there any fundamental differences? Any streamlining? Anything that would help eliminate bloat over time? Incorporating / adopting other novel mechanics?

After reading a little bit about the hex-based space battles subgame, I have my first reservations about SF.

I hope there isn't too much focus on space battles. I enjoy Federation Commander (which this system sounds similar to, but simpler), but I don't like the idea of switching over to a different style of game in the middle of my RPG. A lot of this depends on how they roll it out in the AP. If there are encounters that show a hex-based space battle map, and which -require- that kind of subgame, I may not be interested.

What I like about RPG's is the fact that there are many solutions to a problem. In the games I DM, we flow fairly fluidly in and out of combat. I worry that the space battles will require a very set turn-based structure (which I'm already seeing with phases/turn) that will limit roleplay opportunities and creative ideas in a turn. I could be wrong though.

Some of my favourite SciFi roleplay times were back in the day with Star Frontiers. We often owned /stole space ships, but combat was rare and when it happened it was resolved quickly enough that we didn't need to switch to long periods of tactical wargaming. Often, the difference between ship classes made it the outcome obvious, so it only required a display of power to end the fight (kind of like in most historical naval engagements).

I still have high hopes but a twinge of uncertainty now...

One thing for the designers - check out Space Empires and its expansions by GMT games. Lots of neat ideas for ship customizations, tech trees, and interactions between technologies there. The designer is releasing a tactical game (called Talon), which sounds simpler than Star Fleet Battles / Federation Commander...

As an experiment, I'd love to know how you'd deal punishment to my PC's. They are about to complete the first book of RotR.

Here's what they've done:

- Wexla's brother was caught by Ven fooling around with Shayliss Vender. A fistfight ensued, and as the party was dragged down the street by the guards, they instigated a fight and Wexla ended up killing Ven Vender (by choking him to death). (Long story). The whole party was there.

- The party ran away and, as criminals on the run, cleared the caverns under the glassworks and discovered the threat to Sandpoint.

- The party was captured and imprisoned, then engineered an escape, killing several guards.

- The party hid out in the Sandpoint Hinterlands. A group of bounty hunters from Magnimar were hired to capture them. In a very close fight, the party managed to capture one of the bounty hunters while the others escaped.

- Over a period of days, the party slowly convinced the captured bounty hunter that they were trying to save Sandpoint. They let the bounty hunter go with a fresh horse and all his gear, and told him to return to tell the other bounty hunters that they needed help.

- The bounty hunter party was partially convinced.

- Goblins led another assault on Sandpoint. This time, half the town was razed and citizens started to grumble about the instability of the town. Unbeknownst to the players, the town guard was faced with the prospect of most of Sandpoint leaving the town, and it becoming a ghost town.

- Days later, three of the party members (including Wexla, Ven's murderer) returned to town. They were immediately taken in and faced a large council of important people in town, and any public who wanted to be there. The party members acknowledged they had done horrible things and should be punished for them. But they said that first they wanted to help save the town. The presentation was very convincing, and the town sent a cohort to help the party clear Thistletop. The party performed admirably, often risking their own lives to save members of the town guard.

- The party is talking about returning to Sandpoint with Nualia's head, and submitting themselves to whatever punishment they now deserve. (Wexla has completely turned a leaf character-wise. The brother he was originally protecting has died and he has gone from True Neutral to NG.) He is willing to accept whatever punishment he deserves.

QUESTION: How would you punish these people? Don't worry about plot considerations or keeping the party together - I'm cool with deviating from the AP.

Should Wexla be imprisoned for a number of years? Or should he be pardoned? Or charged with some lesser punishment?

Should the other members get a lesser sentence? They were also complicit in killing guardsmen, but didn't kill a civilian in cold blood.

Thanks! Sorry about the long post. Curious to see if anyone replies. :)

I have a character that I'd like to multi-class into something that (in the following order of priority from most to least important):

(1) Gets an animal companion at first level of the class.
(2) Is a spell caster using CHA as the spell stat.
(3) Has a nature theme.
(4) Eventually grants the use of Wild Shape
(5) Preferably has the use of healing spells

The best case for this would be some way to use Cha as the casting stat for a Druid.

I'm wondering if there are any random encounter tables that include all monsters from all Bestiaries?

Just as good would be a list of monsters encountered in different terrain / climate zones, organized according to Frequency. (I'm thinking about the awesome lists that were in the back of AD&D Monster Manual II).

Really looking for the inclusion of as many Pathfinder monsters as possible.